The present invention relates to fishing lures and in particular to a blade type lure including a heavy weight body and a projecting, concave blade portion which acts as a tiller.
Among the vast numbers of styles, sizes and types of fishing lures, one category of lures are generally denoted as "blade baits". Such lures typically comprise two sections, a bulbous, weighted forward portion and a relatively thin, stamped metal blade portion. Depending upon the balance point of the lure relative to a line attaching aperture, the hooks are variously positioned about the lure body.
Due to the dominance of the forward weighted body and the use of flat or slightly twisted blades, such lures do not exhibit significant amounts of side-to-side movement when retrieved under a relatively constant line tension. Trailing portions of the blades may be bent to induce vibration, but which typically is tightly constrained to the retrieval path. Multiple line attachment points may also be used to vary lure movement. In general, however, and even when jigged in a suspended presentation or intermittently jerked during a constant retrieval, the lure does not respond with wide-sweeping, exaggerated motion.
Moreover, due to the relatively straight lines and planar organization, prior art lures do not present desirable slow fall properties when descending to depth. Many of the prior art blade lures of which Applicant is aware are particularly described in an article by D. Stange, entitled "Blades, Walleyes and More", In Fisherman, Book 96, pp. 48-55 (December/January, 1990).
In contrast to blade lures, Applicant is also aware of large bodied stamped metal, spoon type lures which exhibit concavities. These lures do not include relatively heavy weighted body sections. Thus, spoon lures normally run at shallower depths than blade lures, unless the dimensions of the lure are increased, other weights are attached to the fishing line or the lure is attached to a down rigger assembly. Spoon lures exhibit a distinguishable wobbling motion when retrieved in contrast to the higher vibrating movement of blade lures.